S-25-0209 State of Nebraska (Appellee) v. Raymond Evans (Appellant)
Appeal from the District Court for Douglas County, Judge Shelly R. Stratman
Attorneys: Kenneth F. Jacobs (Hug and Jacobs, LLC for Appellant) and Nathan A. Liss (Asst. Attorney General for Appellee)
Criminal: Life imprisonment for first-degree murder and use of a deadly weapon (not a firearm) to commit a felony
Proceedings Below: A jury convicted Appellant of first-degree murder and use of a deadly weapon (not a firearm) to commit a felony. He was sentenced to consecutive terms of life in prison and forty (40) to fifty (50) years in prison. Life imprisonment cases are direct appeals to the Nebraska Supreme Court.
Issues: Appellant assigns the following errors: 1) Whether the district court erred in overruling a motion for mistrial when a statement accusing Appellant of being untruthful, which was ordered to be excluded from trial, was played during a video shown to the jury; 2) Whether Appellant could have been convicted of use of a deadly weapon (not a firearm) to commit a felony; 3) Whether the district court abused its discretion in allowing the State to present other bad acts evidence over the objection of trial counsel, after the district court ruled it was inextricably intertwined; 4) Appellant received ineffective assistance of counsel in violation of the Appellant 6th and 14th Amendment rights to effective assistance of counsel when trial counsel failed to properly investigate the victim’s ex-husband, who received $75,000 in life insurance after her death, and whose address was the victim’s last known GPS location; and 5) Appellant received ineffective assistance of counsel in violation of the Appellant 6th and 14th Amendment rights to effective assistance of counsel when trial counsel failed to properly cross-examine the victim’s ex-husband, who received $75,000 in life insurance after her death, and whose address was the victim’s last known location.